KARACHI, June 7: Arrangements made on the Pakistan side for the Khokhrapar- Munabao rail service leaves a lot to be desired. This, however, cannot be said of the Indian side where the government seems to have taken the project far more seriously.

This correspondent noticed with unease the difference in facilities for passengers provided on the two side during a recent journey by the Thar Express launched by India and Pakistan a couple of months ago amid great fanfare.

The reopening of the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail link was a dream came true for a large number of people, mostly of Sindh and Rajasthan for whom the route is relatively short and convenient for travel between the two countries. During the four decades the link remained closed it was an ordeal for people from Sindh to travel to India.

However, Pakistan Railways does not appear to have fully grasped the importance of the link. To begin with, it offers no concession to senior citizens and children as India does, even to Pakistani passengers.

There is no platform at the so-called Zero Point station on this side of the border and women, children and the elderly experience great inconvenience in boarding the train or alighting from it.

The number of porters at the station is much less than required and, as a result, passengers find themselves at the mercy of porters who usually charge between Rs500 and Rs2,000 and leave passengers halfway to serve another client. People are often seen pleading with them to take their luggage to customs enclosure, immigration office and the waiting hall.

When this correspondent asked the porters’ contractor why were the porters allowed to fleece passengers, he said he had paid Rs650,000 for the annual contract and he would have to recover that money. And some porters said that high-ranking railway officials had to be paid their ‘cut’ on a regular basis and no action was taken against them.

Porters board the train either at Hyderabad or Mirpurkhas and travel to the Zero Point without paying any fare. One could not get a satisfactory answer to the question why local people were not hired to ease the shortage of porters at the Zero Point and also to create job opportunities for the poverty-stricken people of Thar.

The customs office is housed in a small enclosure with grille on four sides in place of walls. It can hardly serve 50 passengers at a time. From here, passengers have to proceed to an improvised immigration enclosure with only one counter. Once through with these formalities, one moves to what passes for a departure lounge which has only a few chairs.

There is one vendor who sells tea and soft drinks at inflated prices. There are two water coolers and a couple of washrooms for hundreds of passengers.

A spokesman for the Pakistan Railways said the number of passengers using the Thar Express was much larger than initial expectations. He said porters could charge Rs20 for a 40kg luggage, adding that the railways authorities had received complaints about overcharging. The spokesman conceded that so far no action had been taken against erring porters.

Crossing the border, the Munabao railway station comes as a pleasant surprise to travellers from this side. It has a proper platform with sheds for protection from the sun or rain. The platform is long enough to accommodate two trains at a time — on behind the other.

The station has no porters, and passengers are required to use trolleys for their baggage. However, since the number of trolleys being inadequate, women and the elderly often have to wait for hours to get hold of one.

A spokesman for the Indian Railways said porters were not employed because experience suggested that they ended up becoming go-betweens and helped dishonest immigration and customs officials to strike deals with passengers, particularly ‘khepias’ — professional peddlers of goods who travel in large numbers on the route, carrying goods in bulk and are allowed to practise their trade presumably on payment of bribe.

The station has 20 immigration counters and as many customs counters, housed in a large hall. The number of washrooms free as well as charged appeared to be adequate for passengers.

Despite being much better than the Zero Point, the Mumbai station could do with some ceiling fans and water coolers in the customs hall and the waiting room. There should be a few porters to help women and the elderly.